Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-12-03
uEoRulA CUNvlUTS.
-'9rles Of Curious Escapes Related by .
Penltentiary ofaoiaL.

P~enItentlary OHioiaL
Escapes are not frequent The last
II was In April. A railroad man
named Charley Rose climbed upward
one hundred feet through an air shaft
which was in places seven feet in di'
ameter. How he accomplished the
feat mystiied the officials. He could
not have reached from side to side.
The theory is that he must havetaken a
piece Of scantlihg with him, or perhaps
two pieces, and worked his way up
ward, In places the side wall was so
smooth that the convict had to stop and
dig inches for his fingers and toes in
the slate. His absence was discovered
in q couple of hours. but in that time
he had reached the top of the shaft and
disappeared in the woods. Aman who
was smart enough to do such IN act
was able to escape the hounds. The
dogs were put on his track, but after
several attempts they gave up baffled.
There is a way of destroying a trail,
and possibly Rose had learned it A
bundle of brush dragged after the
fugitive will destroy the trail more eff
fectually than any other trick that is
known. 1t is more effective than
climbing trees or wading in brooks.
Rose has never been r%ecaptured. He
was last heard of ut Fort Worth, Tex.
He is the man who planned to hitch an
engine to u pay ear at Atlanta, haul
the paymaster out the road a few miles,
and rob him.
There was a curious escape some
time previous to the case just mention
ed. a convict whose term was within
eighteen months OF expiration, and for
whom a movement to secure q pardon
was under way, walked out of camp
one afternoon, having been given TIE
privilege Of a tEusty. This man had
been an exemplary prisoner. On II
occasion the guard who had
his convict and others I'M
der his charge upon some out
side work got drunk and fell asleep.
The good convict promptly
grasped the situation and
the guards gun, marshaled the
other conyicts in line and marched
them into camp. He received many
thanks fm his honesty, and every body
said he must be pardoned, but weeks
slipped by without the arrival of the
papers, and one day the good convict
walked out into the forest and didn't
return. 1t is probable that he argued
that he had earned what little time re-
NAMED, in which view the sentiment of
the camp sustained him, for no desper-
ate effort was made to oyertake him.
Trailing the escaped conyicts with
the dogs is not the savage work which
northern people might suppose from
their familiarity with the dead wall pie
lures of Uncle Toms Cabin" Blood
hounds are not used, but powerful
legged. l%ong-nosed, amiable-looking
dogs, with immense tapping ears and
bullying foreheads. These hounds are
good for nothing only to follow the
trail. They bay as they strike the
scent, and they make the woods ring
when they overtakc the fugitive, but
they never bite. They are not even
good watch-dogs. While they possess
in a marvellous degree the faculty Of
following the scent, they have TO be
kept in training, and this is done by
sending a trusty out at frequent inter
walls to make Il trail, over which the
dogs are sent. The convict goes, into
the forest, climbs trees, jumps from
rock to rock, and tries to eyade the
dogs until the DAYS lesson is consid,
cred sufficient. The rest of the tint
the hounds loaf around the camp ant
enjoy life. They are expert one-ide;
doGs.-A LoHiS Globe Democrat.